Auditor general says lack of funding, COVID-19 demands have put all but three audits on pause

Canada’s auditor general says the lack of funding for his office has left it no choice but to delay work on most audits, as the COVID-19 pandemic adds new demands on the resource-stretched office.

Interim auditor general Sylvain Ricard told the House of Commons finance committee on Tuesday evening that his office has had to suspend work on all but three audits.

The three projects still being worked on are an examination of the federal government’s $187 billion infrastructure plan, an audit of COVID-19-related special warrants issued under the Financial Administration Act and an audit of Ottawa’s pandemic emergency response now projected to increase the federal deficit this year to $252 billion.

All three audits were requested by the House of Commons through special motions this year, with the latter two meant as added spending oversight as regular sittings of Parliament are suspended due to the pandemic.

“Given the nature and extent of the work that we believe is required to conduct the audit on the Investing in Canada Plan and the COVID-19 response, and in light of our limited resources, we had to revisit the timing for completing and reporting on our current and future performance audit work,” Ricard told MPs.

“On that basis we informed the Speaker of the House that we had to delay all the performance audit work that is not related to the motions adopted by the House of Commons.”

The office of the auditor general probes government policies for financial and performance problems, often exposing government waste and institutional problems that stymie efforts to reach intended policy objectives.

Its findings, which are produced after months of deep auditing, often embarrass governments of the day. The independent office has for years faced a lack of funding needed to modernize and to complete a growing demand for its services.

Ricard said the COVID-19 situation has compounded his office’s resource problem.

“The COVID situation — simply demonstrated, times 10, if I can say it that way — the struggle we were living. We have no leeway, we have no way to adapt to an additional request from the House, no way to invest in technology and get our staff to have the right needs,” he said.

“The current situation just amplifies the challenge we’ve been facing for years.”

Ricard said his office has continued audit work during the pandemic, doing its best to not interfere in the public service’s efforts to provide urgent support for Canadians. He said it’s not clear yet when the auditor general’s office can return to shelved audits.

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre voiced displeasure with the fact that the office was going underfunded at a time when spending is at record levels.

“This is a government that is prepared to send billions of dollars around the world to all kinds of causes. But for some reason, the one thing it doesn’t want to find is a sufficient auditor to hold their spending accountable,” he told the committee.

Liberal MPs on the committee were quick to note that the previous Conservative government had cut the office’s funding.

Four audits scheduled for fall 2020 are now delayed until 2021, Ricard’s office later told iPolitics. It includes reports on rail safety, IT services, the national shipbuilding strategy and Canada Child Benefit. As well, two audits for territorial assemblies and three reports from Canada’s environmental commissioner are also delayed.

Six completed completed audits scheduled for tabling this spring have also been delayed due to the pandemic.

Ricard had warned MPs in February that without new funding, it would need to decrease the number of audits it could perform and that it was in bad need of updating its decades-old IT system.

Ricard told the committee Tuesday that the lack of funding would also make it more difficult to conduct audits of territorial governments and agencies under its unique mandate. He said in previous years, his office was able to complete 27 performance audits annually but that has since dwindled to 14.

The office is requesting $10.8 million in new funding in order to meet new demand and modernize. It currently has a budget of about $88 million, employing about 575 people. The Liberal government provided $8.2 million more annually in 2018 but a request in 2019 fell on deaf ears.

Ricard said the examination of the COVID-19 emergency response will help to identify good practices and areas for improvement in the event of a future pandemic wave or a future mass outbreak.

While probes into the costly infrastructure and pandemic response plans are expected to be large projects, Ricard said special warrants under the Financial Administration Act have yet to be issued.